Microsoft is the company with the stock-market ticker MSFT.
Microsoft trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol MSFT and is consistently one of the world’s largest companies by market capitalization. Its value is linked to a broad business that includes Windows, Office, Azure cloud computing, Xbox, LinkedIn, and enterprise software.
The company was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975. It became a major personal-computer software supplier after licensing its operating system for IBM-compatible PCs, then expanded into productivity software, servers, gaming, advertising, and cloud services.
A ticker symbol identifies a listed company in market data; it is not the same as a brand name or product name. MSFT therefore refers to Microsoft Corporation as a whole, not specifically to Windows or Azure. Microsoft’s market value can change daily even when its products and corporate structure remain unchanged.